Daughter Says She Broke Vow to Judge : Myerson Case Witness Says She Disclosed Secret Strategy Talk

NEW YORK — The daughter of the judge in the alimony-fixing trial of Bess Myerson testified under cross-examination as a government witness today that she promised her mother confidentiality in a family strategy meeting, then reported the talk to the government.

Sukhreet Gabel, 39, daughter of retired state Supreme Court Justice Hortense Gabel, 75, admitted under questioning by Fred Hafetz, attorney for the former Miss America, that she said the meeting would just be for the three Gabels: Hortense; her husband, Milton, and herself.

Under intense grilling, she admitted later going to the prosecutors of her mother and relating the June 29, 1987, strategy session.

Hafetz, as he has previously, accused Sukhreet of cooperating with the government because she liked the attention she received.

“Nothing was more foremost in your mind that Sukhreet Gable, at all costs, be the center of attention,” Hafetz said. “Isn’t that what you are all about?”

“No!” the witness retorted contemptuously.

Conversation Replayed

Hafetz replayed a taped conversation between the judge and her daughter.

The tape was played earlier in the trial, but only about half the jury indicated that they clearly heard the recording that was played on a small portable stereo.

In the barely audible tape, Sukhreet Gabel is heard to say: “Right now we have three versions of the same mess. . . . At least among ourselves we can reconstruct as much as we can.

“I can add something, dad can add something, you can add something,” she told her mother. “We can get to the truth.”

“You know, I think you’re wonderful to get to the bottom of this,” her mother was heard to say.

Myerson, 64; her jailed boyfriend, Carl (Andy) Capasso, 43, and Gabel’s mother are being tried on bribery-related charges.

Hortense Gabel handled Capasso’s 1983 divorce case and is accused of slashing support payments to the millionaire sewer contractor’s ex-wife after Myerson gave Sukhreet Gabel a $19,000-a-year job in the city Cultural Affairs Department.